Chapter Thirty-One

Evan slammed his foot on the gas, rocketing the pickup down the rutted road. The truck swayed back and forth violently to the point where his head whacked the window. Beside him, Blue wobbled in the seat, struggling to stay upright.

Directly behind him were Cheyenne PD cars, the SWAT armored truck, with Brett and Deck taking up the rear. Still no sign of Marlie's pickup, but he was dead sure she was here.

Several hundred feet later, the road descended down a steep ravine, forcing him to brake or risk careening off the road and plummeting God knew how many feet down the embankment. The white houses he'd seen from the air came into view. Not old structures but not new, either. Around thirty years old.

He put the truck in park. The other vehicles wagon-training behind him also stopped. Evan got out, leaving the door open for Blue.

Every house looked meticulously maintained, with a grassy yard surrounded by a white picket fence. The green grass was a stark contrast to the dusty dirt road. None of the houses had garages. Tire tracks led away from where he stood, but the only vehicles were those pickups he'd seen from the chopper.

Slowly, he did a one-eighty, keeping his rifle at the ready as he scanned the houses, searching for signs of movement. The air was still and quiet. Deadly quiet . Not the slightest hint of wind or sound came to him.

Something wasn't right here. A sense of evil hung over the place just as surely as the sun was up there somewhere behind the thick clouds.

Not wanting them to be sitting ducks longer than necessary, he signaled to the SWAT vehicle and the other units to join him. Within seconds, everyone had gathered at the tailgate, including Deck and Brett with their K-9s.

"Search every house," he ordered. "I only saw one shooter from the air, but there could be more. Keep in mind there could also be children on site." Making their job that much harder. He wanted that shooter so badly he could taste it, but safeguarding children came first, middle, last, and always. "Let's go."

Evan pulled Marlie's phone from his pocket and held it out for Blue to sniff. He was counting on there being enough scent particles left for his dog to track. Blue sniffed the screen, then Evan turned the phone over, allowing him to sniff the other side. Given there was virtually no wind down here, scent particles would fall to the ground more readily, making them easier for Blue to find.

"Find her." He pointed to the tire tracks heading farther down the road and away from the houses.

Blue sniffed the dirt, trotting along the tire tracks for ten more feet before turning in circles. All around them came muffled shouts of "clear" as the SWAT team and other uniforms cleared the houses.

He followed Blue to the second-to-last house at the end, but his dog didn't go to the door. Instead, he swung back to the road, his nose to the dirt.

He'd found a scent trail.

Blue picked up speed, and Evan had to run to keep up. Just when it seemed like he was on a hot track, his dog veered sharply and led Evan behind the very last house to a small barn. Blue trotted to the barn doors and sat.

He signaled for Blue to move to the side. Holding the rifle with one hand, he swung open the door and aimed in. Two tarp- covered vehicles were parked side by side. He pressed his hand on the hood of the closest vehicle and held it there. The hood was slightly warm. He whipped off the tarp. A blue Honda Prius with Colorado tags.

"Blue," he called out.

Blue trotted in, sniffing the ground as he went directly to the driver's side door and sat. Evan didn't need to run the tag to know Marlie had been inside the car. The icing on the cake was the North Metro Hospital parking sticker on the Prius's windshield. She must have borrowed it from someone who worked at the hospital. Her friend, Latisha Torres, he guessed.

He pressed his hand on the hood of the other tarp-covered vehicle. Cold. He yanked off the tarp. Recognizing the other car, he slammed his fist down on the hood, leaving a dent. Motherfucker . When he caught up to his prey, there wouldn't be a rock big enough for them to hide under.

More shouts of "clear" came from the closest house, then the radio clipped to his belt crackled.

"Evan, it's Brett."

He grabbed the radio and clicked the mic. "Go ahead."

"The houses are all empty. It's like the place is deserted."

"It's not. They're here somewhere, and so is Marlie."

"You found her?"

"Negative." But he would. He never should have let her walk out his door. He'd lost Gracie, but he wouldn't lose Marlie and Noah, too. "Blue tracked her to a car she borrowed from someone at the hospital." He followed Blue, who'd trotted out of the barn, heading in the direction of the church-like structure he'd seen from the air. "Blue's picked up her scent again. Head for the large building around the bend that looks like a church. I'll meet you there."

He reclipped the radio to his belt and jogged after Blue. Snow began falling, and he looked up at the gray sky. The snow would impact his dog's ability to pick up scent particles.

The church loomed ahead, but the closer he got to it, the more it reminded him of a mausoleum. Cream-colored tile covered the exterior walls. Only one door was visible. No windows.

Blue shot past the building, sticking to the dirt road and picking up his pace. Evan ran faster, not wanting to lose sight of his dog. As he passed the mausoleum, he glanced at the small fenced-in area—a cemetery. No headstones, just wood crosses.

There wasn't time to check now, but he couldn't keep his mind from asking the question: was Gracie's body lying in that cemetery? If so, there was nothing he could do for her now. Focusing on the present was what mattered. Marlie and Noah .

Brett was right. I am an idiot. Marlie was not only the first woman he'd had real feelings for ever …

Those feelings were bone-deep. Heart-deep.

There was still a chance she and Noah could be his future. If he could find them.

Alive.

…

"We have to get out of here." Marlie ran her hands over the walls, searching in the near-darkness for something— anything —that would give them a way out.

A few minutes ago, Manello had received a phone call, then slammed the door shut, locking them inside what was, essentially, their prison. Or their coffin . With the only light coming from a small vent in the roof, she could barely see her hands in front of her.

By the time she'd skirted all four walls of their tiny prison, her heart sank. There wasn't a single weakness in any of the boards. This shed must have been brand-spanking-new. It even smelled new, like fresh wood from a lumber yard.

"No, dammit. No!" She kicked at the nearest wall. Not a single board budged or cracked. She kicked again, harder. The impact sent a stab of pain to the ball of her foot. Adding insult to injury, she landed on her ass on the floor.

"Are you okay?" Noah was at her side, his hand on her back.

"Yeah." For now. The plan she'd envisioned, when she'd willingly gone with John and Margaret, now seemed supremely more stupid than she'd imagined. No matter what happened next, there would be no regrets. No wondering if she'd done the right thing or the wrong thing. At least she'd taken action and done something .

The barest hint of voices in the distance filtered through the overhead vent. They could start screaming for help, but she was 100 percent certain nobody would come to their aid. If there was any chance of getting out of this mess, they'd have to do it on their own.

Hers was a life she wanted to live to the fullest, and she wasn't about to sit on her ass and waste it.

Clearly, Evan hadn't gotten her message. He might not be capable of loving her, but he was still a federal agent. More importantly, he was a man of courage and action. If he'd received her message, he would have been here by now. Why, oh why, hadn't she left the address for the cop she'd tried to reach? Because she'd been too distraught at losing another child. She hadn't even begun adoption proceedings, and already she thought of Noah as hers. Her son.

For the first time in ages, those two little words brought with them emotions other than pain and the grief she swore she'd never get over. Now they brought forth feelings of love, joy, and…despair. Despair she would never have the chance to help Noah become the wonderful man she knew he could be.

Recriminations wouldn't help now. She found Noah's hand and squeezed it, loving him all the more for asking if she was okay. Somehow, in all this mess, she'd come to love a lost, eleven-year-old boy. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." His voice was laced with annoyance. "Just pissed off. Really pissed off."

"I know what you mean." She was pissed off, too. Her crappy plan could have been better.

From the other side of the door, keys jingled.

"Noah," she whispered, getting to her feet and pulling him up with her, "we are not going to just sit here and take whatever's coming without a fight. When that assho—" Remnants of her life counseling children kicked in at the oddest of times. "When Manello comes in, we're going to take him down. Are you with me?" After all, what did they have to lose?

Just their lives.

"Hell, yeah," Noah whispered, adding quickly, "and it's okay to call Frank an asshole. He is an asshole."

Marlie prayed she'd have the opportunity to work on Noah's language. "Here's what we're going to do. I'll stand off to the side of the doorway. You stand in front of it, so he can see you when he opens the door. When he does, start talking to him. Keep him distracted. The second he comes in, I'll jump on him and try to get his gun away." Did that really come out as dumb as it sounded?

The sound of a key being inserted into the padlock echoed like a brass band. Marlie's heart pounded so loudly she worried Manello would hear it. She'd strategically positioned herself on the side of the door that would be closest to his right hand—his gun hand. The door would open outward. Once he came in, she wouldn't be hidden from his peripheral vision. The only way this would work was if she acted fast.

Slowly, the door opened, creaking on its hinges. Dim light spilled inside, along with a burst of swirling snow. Manello's foot was the first thing she saw. Then the muzzle of a gun.

"Yo, asshole," Noah yelled.

Not exactly the words she'd wanted him to use on a man holding a gun, but whatever.

Manello stepped fully inside the shed, then started to turn his head.

Now or never!

She grabbed Manello's wrist. Noah ran headfirst into his chest, shoving him backward and taking all of them out the door and falling to the dirt.

Marlie landed flat on her back. Air whooshed from her lungs, and she couldn't breathe. She'd also had to let go of Manello. All she could do was wait for her lungs to refill.

Noah shot to his feet, then barreled into Manello, trying to knock him to the ground.

"Get off me, you little shit." Still hanging on to the gun, he elbowed Noah in the ribs, shoving him away.

Before air had fully refilled her lungs, Marlie saw red. "You asshole ," she rasped, scrambling to her feet and lunging for Manello. "No one hurts my boy."

Half a second before she got to him, he backhanded her in the face, nearly knocking her to the ground again. Pain stung her cheek. Her vision blurred, and she shook her head to clear it. When she turned back, the gun was pointed directly at her.

"Behave, or I'll kill him." He swung the gun to Noah, his face twisting with sordid glee.

She believed him. There wasn't a shred of indecision in the man's eyes. All she saw was evil. Pure evil.

"Let's go," he growled, flicking his wrist.

She grabbed Noah's arm, trying to shove him behind her. "Where?"

"Wherever I tell you, bitch."

For some reason, he wasn't going to kill them right there, but she didn't doubt that was the ultimate goal.

They wouldn't get out of this alive. The last thing she'd do was make it easy on him.

"Let him go," she said with a strength she didn't know she had. "He'll stay here with you and behave. Won't you?" She gave Noah a meaningful nod.

Manello grunted, shaking his head as he glared down at Noah. "Too late for that. You're the biggest pain in my ass. Only one other kid gave me this much trouble. You never should have come back here." He edged around her, taking aim again at Noah.

"No!" Marlie wrapped her arms around Noah, putting her back to Manello and using her body as a shield.

At least this time, if she lost another child, they'd go together. Hugging Noah tightly against her, Marlie squeezed her eyes shut, held her breath…and braced for impact.